Intern Alumnus Spotlight: Shawn Davis

Celebrating 31 years, more than 200 student pharmacists have participated in AMCP Foundation summer internships since our founding in 1990. We are pleased to highlight our intern alumni in this recurring feature.

Name: Shawn Davis, PharmD, MBA
Current Title: Vice President, Market Access
Internship Program: AMCP Foundation/Pfizer Managed Care Internship
Internship Site: Cincinnati  VA
Year: 2003

What is your role today, and responsibilities? 

I lead the market access team at Arcutis Biotherapeutics. My team and I work with internal teams (e.g. Medical Affairs, HEOR, Finance, Marketing, and Sales) to complete the tasks below during an asset’s development process:

• Medical Affairs: Assist the team in developing phase 2 and/or 3 trials that include Market Access aspects.  
• HEOR – collaborate to create the asset’s value proposition that will be used with payers upon FDA approval.
• Marketing/Sales – co-develop strategies/tactics that will assist field Sales and Market Access teams in talking with health care providers and payers upon FDA approval.
• Finance – collaborate to determine asset pricing upon approval and forecast formulary uptake and growth to project future sales.

Upon approval, the team will meet with national and regional payers to negotiate and secure formulary access for the medication.  
  

What types of managed care practices do you use in your work? 

Clinical Evaluation – Use clinical knowledge to understand the disease state, current treatment landscape (e.g., generic and brand competitors), and how the asset provides value for patients. 

Economic Considerations – Utilizing clinical differentiation, the team must determine the asset's economic benefit to properly determine the market's price for the medication. The process requires evaluating the current disease state treatments (i.e., current standard(s) of care) and correlating analogs of similar and/or recently launched products to create a model to determine a WAC and net price goal for the asset. 

How did the AMCP Foundation internship prepare you for your career? 

My internship project was similar to daily situations at national/regional payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers: clinically evaluating a medication to determine its economic value for patients, health care providers, and shareholders. The internship allows students to develop a hypothesis, create criteria (with my preceptor, Christine Edie, PharmD), research current trends, and evaluate data to answer real-world questions.  

What advice do you have for pharmacy students? 

I’ve had the opportunity to mentor dozens of students over my career, and the best advice is:

• Develop working relationships with your professors – they are a great resource to begin to develop your professional network.
• Be open to all professional organizations at your school – attend 1-2 meetings with an open mind because you never know what you will learn/become interested in when you attend a few meetings
• Attend AMCP/ASHP mid-year meetings as early (2nd/3rd year) as soon as you can.   The cost of meetings, flight/hotel is an investment in your future. Learning the process early will earn you an internship early, which will benefit you when you are a 4th year looking for a residency/fellowship/job opportunity upon graduation
• NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK – Don’t be afraid to contact speakers, preceptors, or faculty. I always provide my email address to students when I am a guest lecturer, and I don’t give it out to everyone—I would be happy to help any student who contacts me.

What was your experience working on your capstone research project? 

The AMCP Foundation internship allowed me to apply the didactic learnings from my pharmacy curriculum to a tangible, real-world project. The project I completed during my internship with Christine Edie, PharmD (preceptor), was an economic cost scenario that the Cincinnati VA attempted to understand around pain management, treatment options, and appropriate clinical criteria. I had never considered presenting a poster at a professional meeting, but the internship allowed me to talk with dozens of students/pharmacists interested in pain management. Additionally, my poster caught the attention of the JMCP editor because pain management was extremely relevant at that time. My project allowed me to write/publish an editorial in JMCP about pain therapy management, which hundreds/thousands of pharmacists read.   

The experience was amazing and propelled my career in ways I never imagined. I would encourage all students interested in combining pharmacy and business to pursue this.